Poly's community of caring

While growing up in Pasadena, Ruth Zeronian learned to appreciate diverse backgrounds and viewpoints through her range of school experiences. She attended Pasadena public schools both in her early elementary years and in high school at John Muir, spending five years at Poly in between.

Today as a parent to Natalie ’14 and Joe ’16, Ruth believes that Poly has offered her own kids valuable exposure to many points of view that will serve them well.

Ruth realized what deep bonds her family had forged with Poly when her husband, Doug, passed away in 2005. Doug had been a stay-at-home dad for the previous six years and spent much of his time helping in Poly classrooms and on field trips. After first resisting a move to Pasadena from his longtime home in Manhattan Beach, “Doug had fallen in love with Poly and the community of families,” Ruth says. His immersion in Poly life clearly made a difference to their kids, who both adjusted initially to their loss by choosing to go right back to school.

“I contribute to Poly from the principle that we should all give until we really feel it,” Ruth explains. “That means stretching a bit with financial gifts and also giving of our time. It can be easy to forget how many volunteers it takes to make a school like Poly run well.” Ruth started a fund to support Poly’s field trips in Doug’s memory, and she contributes her time and resources to annual giving leadership with great anticipation of what her children will gain next from life at Poly.